IC-NRLF 


7fl 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIFT    OF 


0 

Class 


apers  of  % 


iral  Institate  of 


REPORT 


ON    THE 


WOLFE   EXPEDITION  TO    BABYLONIA 


1884-85. 


BY  WILLIAM   HAYES  WARD. 


ARCH£OLOGIGAL 
INSTITUTE 

OF 
AMERICA. 


BOSTON: 

jrtj  for  tlje  Eitstttute  bg 
CUPPLES,    UPHAM,   AND    COMPANY. 

LONDON:  N.  TRUBNER  AND  CO. 
1886. 


of  %  ^ttjffoloijttal  Institute  of  Jmtrita. 


REPORT 


ON    THE 


WOLFE   EXPEDITION  TO    BABYLONIA 


1884-85. 


BY  WILLIAM   HAYES  WARD. 


BOSTON: 

for  tfje  Institute  {tg 
CUPPLES,    UPHAM,   AND    COMPANY. 

LONDON:    N.    TRUBNER    AND    CO. 
1886. 


JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


ARCH^OLOGICAL  INSTITUTE  OF  AMERICA. 


Council,  1885-86. 

CHARLES   ELIOT   NORTON,  CAMBRIDGE,  President. 
HENRY   DRISLER,  NEW  YORK,  Vice- President. 
MARTIN   BRIMMER,  BOSTON. 
FRANCIS   PARKMAN,  BOSTON. 
WILLIAM  W.  GOODWIN,  CAMBRIDGE. 
FREDERIC   J.  DE  PEYSTER,  NEW  YORK. 
RUSSELL  STURGIS,  NEW  YORK. 
A.  L.  FROTHINGHAM,  JR.,  BALTIMORE. 
ALFRED   EMERSON,  BALTIMORE. 

Treasurer. 
GEORGE   WIGGLESWORTH, 

8  CONGRESS  STREET,  BOSTON. 

Secretary. 
ARTHUR   L.  FROTHINGHAM,  JR., 

29  CATHEDRAL  STREET,  BALTIMORE. 


REPORT 


OF 


WILLIAM     HAYES    WARD, 

IN   CHARGE   OF  THE   WOLFE  EXPEDITION   TO  BABYLONIA. 


project  of  an  expedition  to  Babylonia  had  its  origin 
-L  in  the  consultations  of  several  members  of  the  American 
Oriental  Society,  held  at  meetings  of  that  society  and  of  the 
Society  of  Biblical  Exegesis  and  Archaeology.  Among  those 
taking  part  in  these  consultations  were  Professors  Toy  and 
Lyon,  of  Harvard  University ;  Dr.  John  P.  Peters,  now  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Episcopal  Theological  School  at  Philadelphia; 
Professor  Francis  Brown,  of  Union  Theological  Seminary  ; 
Professor  I.  H.  Hall,  now  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum ;  and 
myself.  An  organization  was  effected,  which  afterwards  con- 
nected itself  with  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America ;  and 
it  was  decided  that  it  was  desirable  to  send  a  preliminary  ex- 
pedition to  Chaldea,  which  should  spend  the  winter  months  in 
that  country,  and  investigate  the  practicability  of  further  exca- 
vations there,  and  then  return  and  endeavor  by  its  reports  to 
arouse  such  an  interest  in  the  subject  as  might  result  in  a 
well-equipped  expedition  for  more  prolonged  and  thorough 
research  and  excavation.  It  was  thought  that  such  a  prelimi- 
nary expedition  might  not  be  absent  from  the  country  more 
than  six  months,  and  that  $5,000  would  be  sufficient  to  cover 
its  entire  expense.  Committees  were  appointed  to  solicit 


6  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

subscriptions  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia.  Scarcely 
had  the  effort  of  securing  the  funds  begun  when  we  were  in- 
formed that  Miss  Catherine  Lorillard  Wolfe,  of  New  York, 
had  generously  offered  to  contribute  the  whole  amount. 
The  expedition  bears  the  name  of  the  Wolfe  Expedition  to 
Babylonia. 

I  was  appointed  to  lead  the  expedition  ;  and  it  was  under- 
stood that  Messrs.  Clarke  and  Sterrett,  who  had  been  in  the 
service  of  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America  at  Assos 
and  elsewhere,  should  accompany  me.  I  undertook  the  work 
with  not  a  little  apprehension  that  the  general  preparation 
which  my  long  interest  in  Assyriology  had  given  me  did 
not  provide  such  a  thorough  and  minute  knowledge  of  the 
geography  of  Chaldea  and  of  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  as 
was  to  be  desired.  I  still  regret,  for  the  interests  of  science, 
that  some  of  the  younger  scholars  of  the  country,  who  have 
made  Assyriology  their  specialty,  could  not  have  taken  the 
burden  upon  them.  I  have,  however,  done  my  part  as  well  as 
my  powers  would  allow,  and  must  pass  over 'the  completion  of 
the  task  to  the  more  fortunate  men  who  shall  come  after  me. 

I  left  New  York  Sept.  6,  1884,  and  went  direct  to  Lon- 
don, where  I  spent  nearly  three  weeks,  mostly  working  in  the 
British  Museum,  under  the  direction  of  Messrs.  Budge  and 
Pinches.  I  also  had  the  advantage  of  a  day  with  Professor 
Sayce,  at  Oxford,  consulting  with  him  on  the  objects  of  this 
expedition.  The  information  I  obtained  in  England,  and  the 
advice  and  help  most  freely  and  generously  given  by  the  offi- 
cers of  the  British  Museum  and  others,  were  of  great  service 
to  me.  I  was  urged  to  make  special  inquiry  as  to  the  chief 
sources  of  supply  of  the  tablets  and  other  similar  objects  which 
are  continually  finding  their  way  to  Europe,  and  to  remember 
that  the  collection  of  these  small  and  inconspicuous  written 
monuments  is  of  the  first  importance.  It  is  the  written  tablets 


THE   WOLFE  EXPEDITION   TO  BABYLONIA.  7 

in  the  British  Museum,  and  not  the  large  and  showy  slabs  and 
bulls,  which  make  that  Museum  the  school  where  men  of  every 
nation  must  go  to  study  Assyriology.  I  therefore  gave  partic- 
ular attention  to  such  minute  study  of  the  tablets,  cylinders, 
and  other  monuments  as  would  enable  me  to  distinguish  the 
genuine  from  the  counterfeit,  of  which  there  have  been  many 
made  and  sent  to  Europe.  It  was  impressed  upon  my  mind 
that  if  the  prime  object  of  my  expedition  was  to  examine  and 
photograph  the  ruins  themselves,  and  learn  what  might  be  the 
chance  of  exhuming  fresh  treasures  from  them  in  a  future  ex- 
pedition, the  duty  of  learning  what  is  now  to  be  found  in  the 
hands  of  the  local  collectors  of  antiquities,  and  what  might  be 
at  once  secured  for  our  museums,  was  hardly  second  to  it. 

I  desired  much  to  take  Berlin  in  my  way  to  Constantinople, 
so  as  to  confer  with  Dr.  Sachau  and  Dr.  Schrader,  and  to 
see  the  Museum  there.  But  it  seemed  more  important  that 
I  should  see  the  fine  collection  made  in  Lower  Chaldea  by 
M.  de  Sarzec  ;  and,  time  pressing,  I  took  the  shorter  route, 
spending  three  days  in  the  Louvre  and  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale,  examining  the  Tello  sculptures  and  the  collections 
of  seal-cylinders.  I  also  had  the  privilege  of  an  interview 
with  M.  Menant.  Thence,  to  avoid  quarantine  at  Constanti- 
nople, I  took  the  overland  route,  stopping  on  the  way  to  study 
the  small  collections,  chiefly  of  cylinders,  at  Munich  (where  I 
met  Dr.  Hommel),  Vienna,  and  Buda  Pesth. 

It  was  necessary  to  go  to  Constantinople  for  two  reasons. 
Our  Secretary  of  State  had  instructed  the  American  Min- 
ister there  to  ask  for  us  such  a  firman  as  would  secure  for 
our  party  all  needful  recognition  and  help.  On  reaching 
Constantinople  I  found  that  great  difficulty  had  been  experi- 
enced in  securing  these  letters.  Twice  the  interpreter  at- 
tached to  the  Porte  had  translated  the  word  "exploration  "  by 
a  term  implying  excavation ;  and,  that  being  a  thing  strictly 


8  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

forbidden,  the  firman  was  once  and  again  refused.  But  long 
and  patient  explanation  had  finally  made  it  clear  that  no  ex- 
cavation was  intended  ;  and  at  last,  on  the  day  before  leaving 
Constantinople,  vizieral  letters  were  given  me,  directing  the 
governors  of  Aleppo,  Mosul,  and  Baghdad  to  give  our  party 
all  necessary  help,  but  expressly  stating  that  no  excavations 
were  to  be  allowed.  These  letters  being  received,  I  called  on 
the  Ministers  of  Foreign  Affairs,  the  Interior,  and  Education, 
and  on  the  Director  of  the  Museum,  and  received  from  them 
the  utmost  politeness.  I  may  add  here  that  I  have  only  thanks 
to  express  for  the  attention  and  politeness  and  real  kindness 
I  received  from  Turkish  officials  wherever  I  went.  Scarce  an 
exception  can  I  recall.  Their  helpfulness  deserves  special  and 
honorable  mention. 

It  was  necessary,  also,  for  me  to  complete  my  party  in  Con- 
stantinople. In  London  I  heard  from  Mr.  Joseph  T.  Clarke, 
then  unfortunately  absent  in  Germany,  that  he  would  be  unable 
to  be  a  member  of  our  party.  He  felt  it  necessary  to  complete 
his  report  on  the  Assos  Expedition  before  entering  on  any 
other  work.  I  had  already  had  correspondence  with  Presi- 
dent Washburn,  of  Robert  College,  Constantinople,  about 
securing  the  assistance  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Haynes,  an  instruc- 
tor in  Robert  College,  who  had  been  connected  as  photog- 
rapher with  the  Assos  Expedition,  and  who  had  accompanied 
Dr.  J.  R.  S.  Sterrett,  in  the  same  capacity  in  explorations  in 
Asia  Minor.  Mr.  Haynes  consented  to  form  one  of  our  party, 
and  to  undertake  the  general  charge  of  the  caravan,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  work  of  photographing.  The  safe  conduct  of  the 
expedition  owes  very  much  to  his  judgment,  firmness,  and  tact. 
I  must  also  express  my  obligations  to  President  Washburn 
and  the  other  gentlemen  connected  with  Robert  College,  for 
much  kind  assistance  rendered  to  me.  Also  special  thanks 
are  due  to  Mr.  W.  W.  Peet,  treasurer  of  the  American  Board 


THE   WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.  9 

of  Missions,  who  put  at  my  disposal  all  the  local  treasuries  of 
the  Board,  and  made  my  financial  way  easy  from  Constanti- 
nople to  Baghdad.1 

After  a  stay  of  five  days  in  Constantinople,  Mr.  Haynes  and 
myself,  with  a  young  man  who  was  to  act  as  attendant  and  in- 
terpreter, took  steamer  for  Mersin,  on  the  Cilician  coast.  At 
Smyrna  we  were  joined  by  Dr.  Sterrett,  who  came  from 
Athens  to  meet  us.  It  was  extremely  fortunate  for  the  expe- 
dition that  it  could  obtain  the  services  of  these  two  gentlemen, 
who  had  had  experience  in  explorations  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
who  possessed  a  sufficient  command  of  the  Turkish  language. 
Their  archaeological  labors,  however,  had  been  confined  to 
the  zones  of  Greek  culture,  and  had  not  invaded  the  Shemitic 
fields. 

From  Mersin  we  rode  one  day,  by  carriage,  through  Tarsus 
to  Adana,  where  carriage  roads  cease.  There  we  bought  one 
horse,  and  with  other  hired  animals  went  to  Marash,  attracted 
thither  by  its  being  an  important  seat  of  Hittite  civilization. 
The  Rev.  Henry  Marden,  of  the  American  Mission  there,  has 
given  much  attention  to  the  Hittite  remains;  and  it  is  he  who 
discovered  the  Hittite  character  ol  the  two  large  stone  lions 
on  the  citadel  of  Marash,  one  of  which,  covered  with  hiero- 
glyphics, is  now,  as  I  have  mentioned,  in  the  museum  at 
Constantinople.  A  second,  better  preserved,  but  without  in- 
scription, still  remains  in  Marash ;  and  a  considerable  number 
of  other  complete  or  fragmentary  monuments  of  black  basalt 
exist  in  the  vicinity,  of  which  I  have  photographs,  or  full 
notes  and  figures.  Several  ruined  Hittite  towns  exist  in  the 
neighborhood  which  should  be  explored.  The  hospitality  of 

1  I  may  mention  that  while  in  Constantinople  I  visited  the  Imperial  Ottoman 
Museum,  under  the  charge  of  the  accomplished  scholar,  Hemdy  Bey.  This 
museum  is  not  rich  in  Assyriological  objects,  but  it  possesses  several  of  the 
most  important  monuments  of  the  Hittite  hieroglyphics.  Here  are  the  four 
famous  Hamath  stones  and  the  remarkable  lion  from  Marash. 


10  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

the  American  missionaries  at  Marash,  as  well  as  at  Aintab, 
Mardin,  and  elsewhere,  knew  no  limits.  Wherever  these  mis- 
sionaries are  to  be  found  they  supply  an  enlightening  influence 
which  every  traveller  recognizes.  I  can  only  indorse  all  that 
Dr.  Sachau  says  on  the  subject.1 

Two  days  more  took  us  to  Aintab,  where  we  made  up  our 
caravan,  which  consisted,  besides  ourselves  and  the  interpre- 
ter taken  at  Constantinople,  of  a  Moslem  for  general  service, 
but  specially  charged  with  the  care  of  our  riding  horses,  a 
cook  and  two  muleteers,  seven  horses,  five  mules,  and  a 
donkey.  It  was  thought  best  for  us  to  purchase  our  animals 
rather  than  to  hire  them,  as  we  should  thus  be  independent 
in  our  movements,  and  we  could  probably  sell  the  creatures 
at  the  end  of  the  trip  for  nearly  as  much  as  they  had  cost  us. 
This  proved  judicious,  although  going  down  the  Euphrates 
by  caravan  took  perhaps  a  little  longer  than  it  would  have 
done  by  raft.  In  Chaldea  it  would,  however,  have  been  im- 
possible for  us  to  hire  horses  for  our  trip. 

Leaving  the  pleasant  American  circle  and  the  American 
college  at  Aintab,  we  went,  accompanied  by  Missionary 
Lee,  of  Marash,  to  Jerablus,  on  the  Euphrates  River.  This 
is  the  site  of  the  old  Hittite  capital,  Carchemish ;  and  I 
was  very  willing  to  go  a  day  or  two  out  of  my  way  to  see 
with  how  much  thoroughness  the  English  explorations  had 
been  carried  on  here.  George  Smith  first  discovered  .the 
Hittite  monuments  here,  which  are  now  in  the  British 
Museum ;  but  the  work  of  excavating  was  carried  on  by  the 
British  consul  at  Aleppo.  The  immense  mound  on  the  bank 
of  the  river  has  been  pierced  in  one  or  two  places,  but 
only  very  imperfectly  explored.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
Mr.  Cameron  did  not  remove  the  remains  that  were  found. 
Only  the  inscribed  stones  of  basalt  were  taken  away,  but  the 

1  Reise  in  Syrien  und  Mesopotamien,  p.  422.     Leipzig,  1883. 


THE    WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.          n 

slabs  with  figures  in  relief  were  left.  The  large  slabs  of  gyp- 
sum are  so  fine  and  peculiar  that  it  would  have  been  abun- 
dantly worth  while  to  remove  them  at  the  expense  of  a  great 
deal  of  labor.  Even  after  these  years  of  exposure,  and  though 
much  more  cracked  and  worn  than  they  were,  it  is  a  great 
pity  that  they  should  be  left  there.  They  would  be  a  price- 
less treasure  to  any  museum.  There  is  a  fine  basalt  statue 
of  a  beardless  deity  of  nearly  human  proportions,  in  perfect 
condition,  except  that  it  is  broken  in  two  in  the  middle,  which 
might  have  been  easily  transported.  We  succeeded  in  lifting 
the  upper  part  upon  the  lower  for  the  purpose  of  a  photo- 
graph ;  and  we  secured  photographs  of  the  other  remains  in 
sight.  Of  course  we  did  no  excavation. 

The  Hittite  Empire  existed  side  by  side  with  the  Assyrian, 
and  much  less  is  known  of  it  than  of  the  latter.  Its  history 
is  one  of  the  lacuna  which  need  to  be  filled  up  ;  and  its  rela- 
tion to  Assyria  brought  it  within  the  legitimate  scope  of  our 
investigations.  It  is  very  desirable  that  a  special  expedition 
should  have  the  opportunity  to  make  searches  after  Hittite 
remains.  We  learned  enough  as  to  where  these  are  to  be 
found  to  assure  us  that  such  an  expedition  would  not  be 
fruitless. 

From  Jerablus  we  went  up  the  river  to  Birejik,  where  we 
crossed  the  Euphrates  on  rude  boats,  and  found  ourselves 
in  Upper  Mesopotamia.  A  day's  journey  from  Birejik,  at 
Arslan  Tash,  we  found  and  photographed  two  enormous  lions 
in  black  basalt,  which  must  have  guarded  the  gateway  of  a 
city  of  Assyrian  antiquity.  One  of  them  is  still  standing, 
while  the  other  has  been  thrown  down  on  its  side.  They  are 
of  ruder  workmanship  than  the  alabaster  lions  and  bulls  of 
Nineveh.  The  slabs  on  which  the  lions  are  sculptured  in 
high  relief  are  eleven  feet  ten  inches  long,  by  seven  feet  ten 
inches  high ;  and  the  lions  are  represented,  as  is  common  in 


12  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

Assyrian  sculpture,  with  five  feet  and  legs.  Near  by  is  a  pros- 
trate bull,  broken  into  two  pieces.  With  the  help  of  the  people 
of  the  neighborhood  we  got  them  into  position  to  photograph ; 
but  before  we  could  accomplish  it  the  patience  of  the  fickle 
people  was  exhausted,  and  they  pushed  the  stones  over  again, 
and  refused  to  allow  us  to  finish  the  work.  Measurements 
hastily  made  and  recorded  gave  the  dimensions  of  1.35  metres 
long  by  i.oo  high,  and  1.05  thick.  The  stone  had  been  split 
longitudinally,  and  lay  with  the  two  sculptured  sides  down. 
There  appeared  to  have  been  two  heads  originally,  but  one 
was  gone.  A  square  hole  a  foot  wide  was  cut  in  the  top  of 
the  back.  The  people  were  so  surly  that  we  were  glad  to 
get  away  safely.  For  two  miles  after  leaving  Arslan  Tash 
we  saw  signs  of  a  large  city  once  there.  We  were  told  that 
an  hour  or  two  off  are  two  villages,  Old  and  New  Saruj,  with 
plenty  of  ruins.  Our  route  took  us  till  sunset  through  a  rich 
plain  of  red  earth,  with  cone  villages  on  little  elevations. 
The  houses  are  made  wholly  of  mud  or  clay,  and  are  an 
aggregation  of  from  two  to  five  or  six  cones,  each  running 
up  to  a  high  point.  They  would  form  a  mound  rapidly  as 
they  fall  to  ruins.  Reaching  the  end  of  the  plain  about  sun- 
set, we  came  to  a  line  of  hills  with  old  quarries,  occupied  by 
the  tents  of  shepherd  Arabs.  The  next  day  we  went  up  a 
long  winding  ascent  of  hills,  by  a  rocky  and  difficult  path, 
until  we  struck  the  Turkish  highway  an  hour  out  from  Urfa. 
It  is  only  a  foundation  for  a  road,  and  our  animals  instinctively 
avoided  the  stones.  We  reached  Urfa  about  2.30  P.  M.,  and 
found  our  missionary  companion,  Mr.  Lee,  already  there,  and 
the  mission  house  ready  to  receive  and  entertain  us. 

On  Wednesday,  November  26,  we  left  Urfa  at  about 
10  A.  M.  It  was  our  earnest  desire  to  go  direct  to  Mardin  ; 
but  we  were  so  emphatically  told  that  it  would  not  be  safe 
that  we  were  over-persuaded  to  go  round  by  Diarbekir.  A 


THE    WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.         13 

little  after  sunset  we  reached  Kara-pungar;  and  a  second  day 
of  eleven  hours  took  us  to  Sevrek.  The  country  is  thickly 
bestrewn  with  blocks  of  basalt,  which  become  more  and  more 
numerous,  until  the  surface  of  the  ground  is  black  with  them, 
during  the  next  two  days'  journey  to  Diarbekir,  a  consider- 
able town  on  the  Tigris  River.  We  spent  two  days  in  Diar- 
bekir, examining  its  walls  and  studying  its  antiquities,  and 
resting  over  the  Sabbath.  We  took  photographs  of  a  number 
of  old  Cufic  mortuary  inscriptions  lately  found. 

Having  left  Diarbekir  late  Monday  afternoon,  we  went 
down  the  Tigris,  only  an  hour  and  a  half,  to  the  old  Syrian 
Catholic  monastery  of  Charohieh,  where  we  examined  the  few 
books  in  its  library,  and  spent  the  night.  Tuesday,  Decem- 
ber 2,  we  went  to  Janiki,  leaving  the  fertile  basalt  region 
and  coming  into  the  barren  limestone.  The  next  day  we 
went  over  the  hills  to  Mardin,  being  met  at  a  distance  from 
the  city  by  a  party  of  American  missionaries,  to  whom  we 
had  telegraphed  from  Diarbekir. 

We  were  entertained  with  great  hospitality  by  our  Ameri- 
can friends  in  Mardin,  and  spent  the  time  in  examining  the 
antiquities  of  this  famous  and  beautifully  situated  old  city. 
Mardin  would  be  a  most  important  centre  for  investigation  of 
the  ruins  in  the  plain  before  it.  It  occupies  a  strong  and 
commanding  position  on  the  steep  hillside,  looking  southward 
to  the  plain,  which  extends  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach.  Not 
less  than  a  hundred  mounds,  sites  of  old  cities  and  villages, 
are  visible  from  the  city,  some  of  which,  like  Ras-el-Ain,  have 
already  yielded  valuable  results  to  explorers. 

Friday,  December  5,  we  left  Mardin  for  Mosul,  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Gates,  one  of  the  missionaries.  Two  days  brought 
us  to  Midhyat,  a  comparatively  lively  town  of  five  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  a  centre  of  trade  for  the  Tur-Abdin  region  of 
Jacobite  Syrians.  About  Midhyat  are  numbers  of  decayed 


14  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

and  impoverished  monasteries,  containing  many  Syriac  manu- 
scripts which  are  perishing  from  neglect. 

On  Monday  we  left  Midhyat,  and  attempted,  at  the  convent 
Deir- el-Omar,  to  secure  a  fine,  large,  and  ancient  manuscript 
of  the  Gospels.  But  though  we  succeeded  in  making  a  bar- 
gain for  it,  and  carried  it  off  with  us  from  the  convent  (and  it 
was  as  large  as  a  man  could  well  carry  on  horseback),  the  monks 
changed  their  minds  about  it,  and  followed  us  in  so  threat- 
ening a  manner,  offering  back  the  money  we  had  paid,  that 
we  were  obliged  to  return  it.  We  only  succeeded,  in  our  very 
hasty  trip,  in  securing  some  fragments  four  or  five  centuries 
old,  which  have  been  reported  on  before  the  American  Ori- 
ental Society  by  Professor  I.  H.  Hall.  We  passed  through 
Basebrina,  a  famous  seat  of  a  monastery,  and  the  vigorous 
town  of  Azzeh,  and  reached  Jezireh,  a  town  of  nine  hundred 
houses,  on  the  Tigris,  on  the  afternoon  of  Wednesday,  Decem- 
ber 10.  The  next  day  we  went  down  the  river  to  Feshkha- 
bur,  where  we  crossed  the  river ;  and  on  Friday  night  we 
reached  Ysmil,  passing  numbers  of  tels  on  these  two  days. 
On  Saturday  a  long  and  hard  journey  of  fourteen  hours 
took  us  into  Mosul,  where  the  same  house  had  been  engaged 
for  us  and  our  caravan  that  was  occupied  by  Layard  when  he 
was  exploring  here. 

We  made  Mosul  our  headquarters  from  Saturday  evening, 
December  13,  till  Thursday  afternoon,  December  18.  During 
these  days  we  went  over  the  ruins  of  Nineveh  as  opened,  in 
Koyunjik,  by  Layard,  or,  as  still  unopened,  at  Nebby  Yunus, 
and  protected  by  a  village  and  a  Turkish  graveyard,  and  the 
tomb  of  Jonah,  covering  the  palaces  of  Sennacherib  and  Esar- 
haddon.  We  also  rode  out  to  Khorsabad,  the  scene  of  Botta's 
and  Place's  explorations.  At  Koyunjik  are  still  to  be  seen 
exposed  the  lower  portions  of  a  few  of  the  engraved  slabs 
that  lined  the  walls  of  the  palaces.  We  also  noticed  two 


THE    WOLFE   EXPEDITION  TO   BABYLONIA.         15 

colossal  but  unfinished  bulls  of  Sennacherib ;  and  at  Khorsa- 
bad,  in  a  hole  where  it  was  well  protected,  the  head,  projecting 
out  of  the  earth,  of  a  magnificent  and  perfectly  preserved  bull 
of  Sargon.  A  triangular  alabaster  altar,  three  feet  high,  with 
a  circular  top,  and  bearing  on  the  edge  Sargon's  name,  was 
observed  set  up  in  a  village  between  Khorsabad  and  Mosul, 
where  it  had  been  left,  I  suppose,  by  the  French  explorers. 
At  Mosul  we  visited  the  collection  made  by  M.  Siouffi,  the 
French  consul. 

On  the  afternoon  of  December  18  we  went  out  with  our 
caravan,  a  distance  of  a  few  miles,  to  Karakush,  and  were 
received  at  the  Catholic  Syrian  monastery,  where  we  saw  but 
one  book  of  value,  a  manuscript  Syro-Arabic  dictionary,  com- 
piled by  an  Italian  priest  in  the  last  century.  In  the  wall 
was  a  Syriac  inscription,  dated  nine  centuries  ago.  On  the 
floor  were  laid  numbers  of  bricks,  with  Sargon's  name,  brought 
from  Keremlis. 

Friday,  December  19,  leaving  the  caravan  to  go  directly  to 
the  ford  of  the  Zab  at  Kellek,  we  started  for  Nimrud,  explored 
by  Layard.  The  immense  ziggurat>  or  tower,  there  seems  to 
have  yielded  little  fruit  to  the  spade  ;  but  there  are  long  lines 
of  friezes,  covered  with  figures  and  inscriptions,  which  have 
lain  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  air,  and  have  suffered  vastly 
more  in  these  thirty  years  than  in  the  twenty-five  centuries 
previous.  It  seems  a  great  pity  that  they  could  not  have  been 
covered  up  again. 

Saturday  night,  December  20,  we  reached  Erbil,  the  Arbela 
of  ancient  history,  where  we  spent  Sunday  at  the  public  khan. 
Erbil,  famous  not  only  in  Greek  history  for  the  battle  that 
bears  its  name,  but  also  in  Assyrian  mythology  as  the  seat 
of  the  worship  of  the  Venus,  or  Ishtar  of  Arbela,  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  cities  we  visited.  It  seems  almost  as  if  the 
Arbela  of  antiquity  had  come  down  to  us,  scarcely  changed. 


1 6  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

Here  we  have  the  rare  sight  of  the  immense  artificial  mound, 
or  acropolis,  on  which  the  old  city  was  built,  still  occupied, 
surrounded  by  its  wall,  to  which  an  ascent  goes  up  the  side  of 
the  hill,  till  it  enters  the  gate.  Doubtless  great  treasures  are 
hidden  under  the  city,  but  it  is  impracticable  to  hope  to  dig 
for  the  temple  of  Ishtar,  which  is  doubtless  there. 

Monday,  December  22,  we  left  Erbil,  and  passed  down  the 
generally  easy  and  level  plain  to  the  east  of  the  Tigris,  by  way 
of  Altiin  Kupri,  Kerkuk,  Tauk,  Selahieh,  and  Kara-tepe,  to 
Baghdad,  passing  many  mounds  of  which  we  took  note  ;  and 
hastening  as  rapidly  as  possible,  on  account  of  the  illness  of 
Dr.  Sterrett,  we  reached  Baghdad  Wednesday  night,  Decem- 
ber 31,  thirteen  days  from  Mosul,  and  eleven  from  Erbil. 
Since  leaving  Erbil  our  companion,  Dr.  Sterrett,  had  been 
seriously  ill,  and  it  was  with  great  suffering  and  difficulty  that 
he  was  carried  into  Baghdad.  Dr.  Bowman,  the  excellent 
physician  of  the  British  consulate-general,  under  whose  kind 
and  skilful  care  he  was  immediately  put,  said  that  if  the  jour- 
ney had  been  prolonged  one  day  longer  he  would  probably 
not  have  recovered.  The  recovery  was  slow,  as  he  was  re- 
duced to  great  weakness.  Thanks  to  the  kindness  of  Mr. 
Hodgson,  of  the  English  Church  Missionary  Society,  in 
whose  hospitable  house  he  found  room  and  attention,  and 
to  the  medical  care  of  Dr.  Bowman,  he  was  well  provided  for 
there,  where  we  were  obliged  to  leave  him  when  we  left 
Baghdad  for  our  exploration  of  Southern  Chaldea. 

We  remained  in  Baghdad  nearly  two  weeks.  The  English 
consul-general,  Mr.  Plowden,  had  kindly  made  arrangements 
for  us  by  which  a  commodious  house  was  put  at  our  disposal, 
as  there  are  in  the  city  no  hotels  or  khans  for  travellers.  I 
devoted  my  time,  while  our  animals  were  recruiting,  and 
arrangements  were  making  for  our  new  and  difficult  trip,  to 
obtaining  the  fullest  possible  information  about  the  antiquities 


THE    WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.         17 

which  find  a  market  there,  and  are  thence  sent  to  Europe.  I 
made  the  acquaintance  of  all  those  who  have  been  employed 
in  George  Smith's  or  Mr.  Rassam's  explorations,  or  who  are 
interested  in  antiquities.  Baghdad  is  a  city  of  150,000  in- 
habitants, one  third  of  them  Jews,  who  claim  to  possess  a 
board  of  rabbis  learned  in  the  Talmud  beyond  any  others  in 
the  world,  and  holding  the  immediate  succession  of  the  old 
rabbinic  school,  which  gave  us  the  Babylonian  Talmud.  The 
thoroughly  Oriental  character  of  the  city  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  we  did  not  see  in  it  a  single  carriage.  Indeed, 
the  streets  would  not  allow  two  carriages  to  pass  each  other. 

On  Monday,  January  12,  we  left  Baghdad  for  Babylon  and 
Hillah,  on  the  way  visiting  Abu-Habba,  explored  by  Mr.  Ras- 
sam  and  the  site  of  the  Sippara  of  Shamash.  My  visit  there 
was  unsatisfactory,  and  I  was  obliged  on  our  return  to  visit 
it  again,  so  that  I  will  speak  of  it  later. 

We  went  over  the  hills  of  Babylon,  and  made  the  circuit  of 
the  walls,  visiting  Babil,  Jimjimeh,  Kasr,  and  Homera,  and 
taking  photographs.  The  great  tower  of  Babil  is  being  gut- 
ted by  the  Arabs,  who  dig  its  brick  for  building  purposes. 
It  is  the  quarry  of  Hillah,  but  is  not  fruitful  of  antiquities. 
The  little  parties  constantly  digging  in  Jimjimeh  and  Kasr 
open  many  graves,  obtaining  gold  objects,  tablets,  etc.,  which 
they  dispose  of  in  Baghdad.  Scientific  explorations  have  not 
been  carried  on  in  Babylon,  except  it  be  in  the  ziggurat  of 
Babil ;  and  hardly  any  clew  is  yet  had  to  its  palaces  and 
temples. 

We  entered  Hillah  Friday  evening,  January  16.  Hillah 
is  a  town  of  10,000  inhabitants,  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Euphrates.  We  made  it  our  headquarters  for  five  days,  im- 
proving our  time  in  completing  our  preparations  for  our  jour- 
ney In  the  desert  of  Southern  Chaldea,  in  communicating 
with  the  dealers  in  antiquities,  and  in  visiting  Birs  Nimrud, 


1 8  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

the  ancient  Borsippa,  and  the  traditional  site  of  the  Tower  of 
Babel.  As  this  great  ruin  has  been  often  described,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  say  more  than  that  Mr.  Rassam  has  done  good 
work  here  and  on  the  elevation  called  El-Khalil,  opposite  the 
tower,  in  his  last  expedition.  We  found  the  large  and  ancient 
building  which  stood  near  the  foot  of  the  Tower  hill  and  op- 
posite El-Khalil,  thoroughly  opened,  and  the  ancient  walls  of 
the  rooms  standing  in  good  preservation.  But  this  large 
mound  is  by  no  means  exhausted.  The  tower,  or  ziggurat, 
has  been  pretty  thoroughly  examined  by  Oppert,  Rawlinson, 
and  Rassam ;  but  on  El-Khalil  the  building  opened  by  Mr. 
Rassam  is  little  more  than  a  beginning,  and  the  men  employed 
by  him  did  not  hesitate  to  point  out  to  us  the  places  where 
they  believed  a  little  digging  would  be  sure  to  find  tablets. 

Wednesday,  January  21,  we  began  our  long-anticipated 
journey  through  the  country  to  the  south  of  Babylon,  lying 
between  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  rivers.  The  country 
through  which  we  were  to  go  had  not  been  visited  by  any 
European  traveller  for  over  thirty  years,  and  portions  of  it 
never.  No  American  traveller  had  ever  been  through  the 
district.  Along  the  few  larger  branches  which  flow  from  the 
Euphrates  are  a  few  scattering  small  villages  built  of  mats 
and  reeds,  and  the  wandering  Arabs  have  their  tents  here 
and  there.  It  is  generally  an  absolutely  barren  country, 
because  of  the  lack  of  irrigation,  though  capable  of  the 
greatest  fertility ;  and  in  portions  is  covered  by  moving 
hills  of  sand.  There  are  also  immense  swamps  and  lakes  ; 
and  it  is  only  in  the  winter  months  that  the  ground  is  dry 
enough  for  travel.  I  was  in  constant  anxiety  lest  the  rise 
of  the  rivers  might  make  it  impossible  to  proceed  in  a  coun- 
try which  is  liable  to  be  converted  into  swamps,  where  there 
are  no  bridges  over  the  rivers,  and  where  the  population  is 
not  large  enough  to  provide  ferry-boats  except  at  rare 


THE    WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.         ig 

crossings.  Again  and  again  I  was  told  that  if  I  went  farther 
south  the  floods  would  shut  me  in  so  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  escape  with  my  caravan.  At  times  we  travelled 
for  hours  through  the  water.  On  one  occasion  our  party  in  a 
swamp  of  reeds  and  water,  one  or  two  feet  deep,  led  by  an 
Arab  spearman,  were  obliged  to  turn  aside  for  wild  boars  that 
stood  their  ground  and  would  not  move  for  us.  Moreover, 
the  country  is  considered  by  no  means  safe  for  travellers. 
The  Turkish  government,  which  generally  has  its  military 
stations  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  apart,  has  almost  none  here. 
Indeed,  we  took  a  single  mounted  soldier  with  us  from  Hillah, 
and  did  not  find  a  place  where  we  could  exchange  him  till  we 
had  reached  nearly  the  southern  limit  of  our  journey,  and  so 
we  brought  him  back  with  us  to  Hillah.  We  had  alarms  of 
attacks  at  night,  and  one  day  we  were  followed  for  hours  by 
mounted  Arabs,  and  before  night  were  stopped  by  a  party  of 
fifteen  or  twenty  who  had  gathered  to  withstand  us.  Yet 
I  must  testify  that  the  general  treatment  we  received  from 
both  agricultural  and  nomadic  Arabs  was  extremely  hospi- 
table. We  treated  them  with  confidence,  and  they  merited 
it.  We  were  everywhere  at  their  mercy  ;  but  I  think  that  by 
putting  on  a  bold  face,  and  trusting  them,  doing  them  every 
kindness  we  could,  we  found  our  way  everywhere  as  easy  as 
the  nature  of  the  country  and  the  quality  of  the  food  would 
admit  of.  More  than  once,  when  I  was  compelled  to  take 
an  interpreter  and  guide,  and  go  alone  to  a  distance  from 
the  caravan  to  visit  some  mound  off  from  our  route,  I  slept 
in  the  black  tents  of  the  Arabs,  and  without  spoon  or 
knife  or  fork  ate  of  their  rice.  One  of  our  chief  difficulties 
was  to  get  food  for  our  animals.  Indeed,  sometimes  we 
could  get  no  barley,  and  were  compelled  to  feed  the  horses 
with  rice.  Our  own  food  was  not  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired, and  it  was  not  easy  to  keep  up  our  strength.  I 


20  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

doubt  very  much  if  our  native  servants  could  be  hired  for 
any  money  to  repeat  the  trip,  they  were  in  such  constant 
anxiety.  "  Bad  people!  bad  people!"  they  would  constantly 
repeat,  and  ask  us  when  we  would  turn  about  for  home.  It 
was  a  great  relief  to  us  all  to  get  back  safely  to  Hillah  five 
weeks  after  we  left  it. 

Without  a  map  it  would  be  impossible  to  give  a  clear  idea 
of  our  route.  It  will  suffice  to  mention  a  number  of  the 
principal  mounds  visited  by  us.  El-Hymar,  as  Mr.  Rassam 
calls  it,  or  El-Ohemir,  as  we  heard  it,  is  the  first  mound  east 
from  Babylon,  and  was  attacked  by  Mr.  Rassam,  who,  how- 
ever, made  but  slight  excavations.  Zibliye  is  not  a  large 
mound  ;  but  it  possesses  a  conspicuous  ziggurat,  and  no  exca- 
vation has  ever  been  made  there.  Niffer  is  a  mound  of  vast 
extent,  separated  in  two  parts  by  what  the  Arabs  declare 
to  be  the  Shatt-el-Nil ;  it  is  about  two  miles  in  diameter,  and 
has  its  tower  near  the  middle  of  the  northeastern  portion. 
The  mound  is  washed  and  gullied  by  rain,  and  is  in  places 
so  steep  that  it  is  difficult  for  horses  to  climb  it.  Here  and 
there  layers  of  unburnt  brick  are  visible.  No  digging  worth 
mentioning  has  ever  been  done  here,  though  the  city  —  the 
Nipur  of  the  inscription,  and  probably  the  Calneh  of  Genesis 
—  was  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  important  in  the  whole  of 
Babylonia.  There  is  a  considerable  population  of  Arabs  in 
the  AfFej  marshes  in  the  vicinity,  so  that  it  would  be  easy  to 
obtain  workmen  for  excavation.  It  would  richly  repay  exten- 
sive exploration. 

Farther  south  is  Bismya,  a  large  mound,  with  a  wall  about 
three  miles  in  circumference,  which  seems  to  have  been  the 
fortress  of  a  swampy  region.  At  the  western  corner  there  is 
a  large  elevation,  and  the  mound  rises  in  various  other  por- 
tions of  the  enclosure.  Dhahar  is  another  large  mound,  but 
presents  no  very  salient  features.  It  deserves  investigation. 


THE  WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.         21 

Hammam  has  been  visited  by  Loftus  and  others,  but  never 
really  explored.  It  is  visible  from  a  great  distance,  with 
its  upright  tower  of  unburnt  brick  still  standing.  It  is  a 
considerable  mound,  divided  and  gullied  into  several  parts, 
but  not  so  large  as  Dhahar.  Fara  is  a  low  and  irregular 
mound,  about  a  mile  long,  and  nearly  as  wide.  It  was 
not  a  lofty  town,  with  high  walls  and  towers  like  Niffer  and 
Bismya,  but  it  must  have  been  a  city  of  much  importance. 
Yokha  and  Umm-el-Akarib  are  near  together,  and  interested 
me  very  much.  The  former  is  long  and  low,  and  concealed 
as  one  approaches  by  the  moving  sand-hills.  Akarib  is  a  city 
of  graves,  not  so  large  as  Yokha,  but  apparently  more  impor- 
tant archaeologically.  It  appears  to  have  been  a  sacred  burial 
city,  like  the  modern  Kerbela.  It  was  easy  to  follow  with  the 
eye  lines  of  division,  which  appeared  like  roads  and  lots  in  a 
cemetery.  The  higher  part  of  the  hill  was  occupied  by  a 
masonry  grave,  which  had  been  opened  and  the  cist  exposed  ; 
and  fragments  of  the  contents  —  vases,  bones,  etc.  —  were  ly- 
ing about.  Indeed,  we  could  have  picked  up  from  the  mound 
fragments  of  hundreds  of  stone  bowls  or  urns.  One  frag- 
ment of  an  alabaster  urn  indicated  that  it  must  have  been  a 
foot  and  a  half  in  diameter.  We  picked  up  scores  of  frag- 
ments of  flint  knives  and  saws.  The  burials  here  were  in 
masonry  cists,  or  in  large  earthenware  urns,  of  which  the  tops 
of  many  were  visible,  protruding  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground. 

On  Saturday,  January  31,  we  reached  Shatra,  a  town  of 
perhaps  a  thousand  inhabitants,  on  the  Shatt-el-Hai,  though 
several  miles  from  the  location  on  the  maps.  We  made  this 
our  headquarters  for  several  days,  while  the  animals  were 
recruiting,  and  I  was  visiting  Tello  and  Zerghul,  on  the  east 
of  the  Shatt-el-Hai.  Tello  is  the  mound  made  famous  by 
the  discovery  there  of  the  archaic  statues  obtained  by  M.  de 


22  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

Sarzec  for  the  Louvre.  The  tel  has  two  principal  elevations, 
one  larger  to  the  south,  and  a  smaller  one  of  nearly  equal 
height  to  the  north.  The  latter  is  the  palace  excavated  by 
M.  de  Sarzec,  consisting  of  a  court  and  the  surrounding 
rooms,  built  at  various  periods.  The  bricks  found  were  of 
all  ages,  from  the  hand-inscribed  bricks  of  the  greatest  an- 
tiquity to  the  stamped  bricks  of  a  Sassanian  period,  bearing 
the  name  of  Hadad-nadin.  Zerghul  is  less  accessible  than 
Tello,  but  is  a  lofty  and  very  promising  mound,  whose  relics 
point  to  an  equally  early  period.  Its  tower  gives  it  promi- 
nence as  seen  from  a  distance,  though  it  is  not  so  large  a  ruin 
as  another  near  it  called  Hibba. 

On  Monday,  February  9,  we  left  Shatra,  following  down 
the  right  bank  of  the  Shatt-el-Hai,  which  had  already  risen  to 
an  alarming  height,  and  reached  Merkez  at  night,  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Shatt-el-Hai  and  the  Euphrates.  From  here, 
though  troubled  by  the  heavy  rains,  we  crossed  the  Euphrates 
and  went  to  Mugheir,  the  site  of  the  biblical  Ur  of  the  Chal- 
dees.  This  magnificent  mound  has  been  described  by  Loftus 
and  Taylor,  and  sufficient  excavations  have  been  made  to  lay 
open  some  of  the  principal  buildings,  though  little  more  than 
a  beginning  has  been  made.  From  here  I  would  have  gone 
south  to  visit  Abu  Sharein,  the  Eridu  of  the  Chaldean  Flood 
legend,  if  the  strain  on  my  own  health  had  not  made  it  im- 
possible. This  was  the  southernmost  point  we  reached  ;  and 
from  here  we  went  up  the  west  bank  of  the  Euphrates  to 
Hillah,  crossing  the  river  to  make  a  visit  to  the  immense 
mound  of  Warka,  the  biblical  Erech.  The  localities  in  this 
region  which  I  failed  to  see  were  Senkereh  and  Tel  Sifr,  both 
pretty  well  explored  by  Loftus  and  Taylor  thirty  years  ago, 
and  Delehem.  The  latter  must  be  one  of  the  most  important 
cities  of  Chaldea.  It  is  surrounded  by  the  Affej  marshes, 
and  has  never  been  visited  by  travellers.  I  intended  to  visit 


THE  WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.        23 

it,  with  the  other  mounds  I  have  mentioned,  on  my  return  to 
Hillah  ;  but  this  proved  impossible. 

At  Hillah  we  met  Dr.  Sterrett,  now  pretty  well  recovered, 
for  whom  we  had  telegraphed.  He  reported  much  kindness 
and  attention  from  the  English  consul,  Mr.  Plowden,  and  the 
English  physician,  Dr.  Bowman. 

Before  returning  to  Baghdad  we  visited  Abu-Habba  a  second 
time,  and  I  went  alone  with  a  soldier  and  interpreter  to  see 
Tel  Ibrahim.  This  mound,  supposed  to  occupy  the  site  of 
Cutha,  has  been  slightly  explored  by  Mr.  Rassam.  The 
general  shape  of  the  mound  is  that  of  a  horseshoe,  with 
small  mounds  occupying  the  open  space.  I  looked  carefully 
for  excavations,  but  there  were  none  of  any  account.  About 
a  dozen  spots  had  been  opened,  none  very  large,  and  none 
apparently  had  disclosed  any  important  construction.  In  one 
case  a  brick  wall  had  been  found,  but  not  followed  far,  nor 
its  end  reached.  One  tunnel  was  dug  in  for  some  yards.  A 
broad,  deep  well  has  tempted  and  occupied  most  of  the  labor. 

Our  visit  to  Abu-Habba  was  more  satisfactory  than  the 
former  one.  A  nearly  square  enclosure,  with  a  high  wall,  is 
divided  by  two  cross  walls,  leaving  a  central  portion  nearly 
V-shaped.  It  is  only  in  this  central  portion  that  there  are 
any  ruins,  the  other  two  portions  being  occupied  by  cultivated 
fields.  Assyriologists  all  say  that  Sippara  was  a  double  city, 
the  portions  being  separated  by  a  canal,  and  bearing  the 
names  of  Sippara  of  Shamash,  and  Sippara  of  Anunit,  the 
latter  identical  with  Agade.  This  is  not  true  of  this  locality. 
It  is  a  single  undivided  mound.  It  has  been  quite  thor- 
oughly explored  by  Mr.  Rassam,  with  great  labor  and  with 
most  satisfactory  results.  The  tablets  found  there  seem  to 
prove  conclusively  that  this  is  the  Sippara  of  Shamash  ;  and 
we  must  seek  elsewhere  for  the  Sippara  of  Anunit,  the  larger 
and  older  city. 


24  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

We  returned  to  Baghdad,  and  there  devoted  ourselves 
again  to  the  study  of  antiquities,  remaining  there  until 
March  18,  when  we  left  for  home,  by  way  of  the  west  bank 
of  the  Euphrates  River,  and  the  Syrian  desert.  We  visited 
Akerkuf,  almost  in  sight  from  Baghdad,  not  a  large  mound, 
and  not  promising  to  the  spade,  except  as  the  corners  of  the 
high  tower,  visible  for  miles  about,  probably  contain  the 
barrel  inscriptions  of  Nebuchadnezzar  or  Nabonidus.  We 
struck  the  Euphrates  at  Sakhlawieh,  at  the  point  where  the 
canal  of  the  same  name  leaves  the  river.  I  had  come  here 
especially  to  examine  the  mound  of  Sufeira,  which,  up  to 
the  discovery  of  Abu-Habba,  had  been  supposed  to  be  the 
site  of  Sippara ;  and  I  had  great  hopes  of  finding  in  it  the 
older  Sippara  of  Anunit.  But  it  proved  to  be  an  inconspicu- 
ous mound  of  no  importance.  I  heard  from  the  Mudir  of 
Sakhlawieh  that  there  was,  several  miles  off,  a  mound  called 
Anbar,  much  larger  than  Sufeira;  and  I  took  a  guide  and 
walked  over  to  see  it.  It  surprised  me,  indeed,  with  its 
height  and  extent.  It  is  down  on  none  of  the  late  maps 
which  I  took  with  me,  though  the  old  maps,  drawn  from 
mediaeval  Arabic  sources,  contain  it.  Though  it  is  well 
known  that  there  was  a  large  town  of  the  name  there  in  the 
time  of  the  Caliphates,  as  no  modern  traveller  has  found  the 
name,  it  had  been  dropped  by  Kiepert  and  other  modern 
geographers  from  their  maps.  For  size  and  importance  the 
ruins  of  Anbar  compare  well  with  the  very  largest  cities  of 
Babylonia,  Babylon  only  excepted.  It  is  larger  than  Abu- 
Habba,  and  is  of  the  same  prime  rank  as  Niffer  and  Warka. 
It  is  divided  by  a  depression,  which  perhaps  represents  an 
old  canal,  into  two  parts,  which  would  seem  to  be  the  old 
and  new  city,  and  which,  allowing  this  to  be  the  older  Sip- 
para, as  I  believe,  account  for  the  dual  form  of  the  Hebrew 
Sepharvaim.  It  is  on  the  Euphrates  River,  which  agrees 


THE  WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.         25 

with  the  inscriptions  which  call  the  Euphrates  the  river  of 
Sippara.  Abu-Habba,  and  the  neighboring  quite  unimportant 
Deir,  which  some  have  supposed  to  be  Agade,  or  Sippara  of 
Anunit,  are  quite  too  far  from  the  Euphrates  ever  to  have 
given  it  a  name.  The  discovery  of  this  city,  which  repre- 
sents the  Agade,  or  Sippara  of  Anunit,  the  Accad  of  Genesis 
x.  10,  the  Persabora  of  classical  geographers,  and  the  Anbar 
of  Arabic  historians,  is  of  the  first  importance.  It  is  easy 
to  trace  the  lines  of  the  old  palaces  or  temples,  not  through 
any  stone  walls,  but  by  the  depression  of  the  courts,  now 
cultivated  wheat-fields.  In  various  places  the  brick  masonry 
of  buildings  and  walls  could  easily  be  traced.  I  am  greatly 
surprised  that  Anbar  has  never  before  been  visited  in  recent 
times. 

Thence,  crossing  the  river,  we  travelled  up  the  west  bank 
of  the  Euphrates  as  far  as  Ed-Deir,  a  few  miles  north  of  the 
junction  of  the  Khabur  and  the  Euphrates.  The  interesting 
points  are  Hit,  the  old  Issus,  the  site  of  the  still  flowing 
bitumen  fountains  and  salt  springs,  where  is  the  shipyard  for 
building  boats  pitched  within  and  without  with  pitch  ;  also 
Anah,  a  remarkable  village  five  miles  long,  all  on  a  single 
street  compressed  between  the  hills  and  the  river,  except  as  a 
part  is  on  an  island  in  the  river.  I  discovered,  a  short  distance 
south  of  Kiamal,  the  ruins  of  an  important  Assyrian  town, 
protected  by  square  walls  ;  the  stones  marking  the  entrance  to 
its  gates  were  still  visible.  This  place  is  called  Tel  Jabriyeh, 
or  Shech  Jabr,  and  is  of  much  interest.  There  is  in  the 
northwest  corner  a  considerable  tower,  and  there  are  exten- 
sive remains  of  buildings  with  walls  and  stones  in  sight.  But 
most  remarkable  is  the  fact  that  this  is  the  only  place  where 
we  have  found  the  unburnt  clay  walls  of  a  city  still  standing 
in  part.  Elsewhere,  as  at  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  they  form 
a  mere  ridge,  or  long  hill,  enclosing  the  city.  It  is  not 


26  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

necessary  to  speak  of  Kan  Kalessy  and  other  ruins  described 
by  travellers. 

We  left  the  Euphrates  at  Ed-Deir,  Monday,  April  6,  for 
Palmyra,  by  way  of  Suchne  and  Erek.  We  were  so  fortunate 
as  to  find  a  Roman  milestone  in  position,  which  gave  the 
name  of  Erek  as  Aracha,  this  being  the  eighth  milestone  on 
the  Diocletian,  road,  Strata  Diocletiana.  We  reached  Pal- 
myra Saturday,  April  17,  and  remained  there  until  the  next 
Thursday,  very  busily  engaged  in  taking  photographs  of  the 
ruins,  and  making  copies  and  taking  squeezes  of  the  Greek 
and  Palmyrene  inscriptions.  The  President  of  the  American 
Archaeological  Institute  had  expressed  to  Mr.  Haynes  his 
desire  that  a  large  collection  of  views  of  Palmyra  might  be 
obtained.  We  secured  nearly  a  hundred.  I  took  squeezes  of 
nearly  all  the  Palmyrene  inscriptions,  including  the  immense 
stone  recently  discovered,  containing  the  law  of  tolls  for 
caravans,  on  which  the  wealth  of  Palmyra  depended.  I  was 
told  that  this  largest  inscription  yet  discovered,  not  cunei- 
form, a  bilingual  in  Greek  and  Palmyrene,  had  not  been 
copied  by  any  traveller ;  but  I  found,  on  reaching  Damas- 
cus, that  it  had  been  published  some  months  before  in  French 
and  German  journals.  Still  I  do  not  regard  the  time  wasted 
which  I  devoted  to  transcribing  and  translating  the  Palmyrene 
portion,  while  Dr.  Sterrett  was  at  work  on  the  Greek. 

After  five  days  in  Palmyra,  we  left,  Thursday,  April  22,  for 
Damascus,  by  way  of  Horns  (Emesa),  and  reached  Beirut 
April  29.  After  selling  our  animals  there,  and  obtaining 
what  useful  information  I  could  of  antiquities  which  find 
their  way  to  Beirut,  I  hastened  home  by  way  of  Alexandria, 
Paris,  and  London,  stopping  only  at  Paris  a  few  days  to 
meet  with  Dr.  Oppert,  and  Messieurs  Menant,  de  Clercq,  and 
Perrot,  and  other  French  scholars  and  collectors  ;  and  at 
London,  waiting  for  the  freight  sent  around  by  water,  and 


THE  WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.         27 

consulting  with  Dr.  Birch,  Mr.  Pinches,  and  the  other  scholars 
of  the  Museum.     I  reached  home  June  20,  1885. 

What  are  the  prospects  for  hopeful  exploration  and  exca- 
vation ?  We  gave  our  most  careful  attention  to  this  matter. 
Wherever  we  went  we  made  all  possible  geographical  and 
archaeological  observations,  and  took  photographs ;  but  our 
special  object  was  to  open  the  way  for  further  work  in  the 
future.  I  am  convinced  that  in  Babylonia  the  tithe  has  not 
yet  been  done.  The  great  excavations  of  the  past  have  been 
in  the  north,  in  Assyria,  about  Nineveh.  There  enough 
has  been  done  to  fill  up  very  much  of  the  outlines  and  sub- 
stance of  the  history  of  the  great  Assyrian  Empire.  There 
Botta  and  Place  and  Layard  have  done  their  work,  the  monu- 
ments of  which  are  the  glory  of  the  British  Museum  and  the 
Louvre.  Coming  now  south  to  the  territory  of  the  earlier  and 
later  Babylonian  empires,  the  territory  where  Asiatic  civil- 
ization, if  not  that  of  humanity,  had  its  origin,  we  find  that 
much  less  thorough  investigations  have  been  made.  Here 
the  workers  have  been  Oppert,  with  his  scientific  expedition  ; 
Rawlinson,  Loftus,  and  Taylor,  of  whom  the  latest  did  his 
work  nearly  forty  years  ago  ;  and  more  recently  Mr.  Rassam 
and  M.  de  Sarzec.  But  their  labor  has  scarcely  skimmed  the 
surface.  The  chief  digging  at  Babylon  has  been  the  desul- 
tory picking  of  Arabs  among  graves,  or  excavating  for  bricks. 
Rawlinson  tore  down  the  corners  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  tower 
of  Babel  at  Borsippa,  for  the  great  king's  inscribed  barrels, 
and  found  them.  Oppert  worked  over  the  architectural  plan 
of  the  same  building.  Taylor  and  Loftus  began  the  exca- 
vation of  several  important  ruins  in  Southern  Babylonia, 
Warka  and  Abu  Sharein  and  Mugheir  and  Senkereh  and  Tel 
Sifr,  and  obtained  a  few  coffins  and  tablets  of  great  interest 
or  antiquity.  Within  ten  years  Rassam  has  explored  temples 


28  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

at  Abu-Habba  and  Birs  Nimrud,  and  found  a  magnificent 
number  of  tablets  ;  and  De  Sarzec,  in  the  extreme  south,  has 
dug  up,  with  the  finest  results,  an  ordinary  mound  at  Tello. 
But  at  Babylon  nothing  scientific  has  yet  been  done.  Perhaps 
the  vastness  of  the  remains,  to  which  the  clew  has  hardly  been 
found,  discourages  workers.  Only  Birs  Nimrud  (the  old  Bor- 
sippa),  Abu-Habba,  and  Tello  have  been  explored  with  any 
thoroughness.  The  great  cities  of  the  region  were  Babylon, 
Nipur,  Sippara,  and  Erech  ;  and  not  one  of  them  has  been 
more  than  touched,  while  Nipur  and  old  Sippara  are  yet 
virgin  to  the  explorer's  spade.  The  same  is  true  of  numer- 
ous other  scarcely  secondary  sites,  such  as  Delehem,  Bismya, 
Dhahar,  Hammam,  Yokha,  Umm-el-Akarib,  Zerghul,  and  a 
score  of  others  which  I  could  mention.  Especially  would  I 
call  attention  to  the  immense  ruins  of  Sippara,  at  Anbar, 
which,  as  I  have  said,  is  not  down  on  the  latest  maps  of  the 
region.  It  is  most  accessible,  close  to  the  Euphrates  River, 
and  with  a  sufficient  population  adjacent  to  furnish  workmen. 
Another  most  promising  site  is  Umm-el-Akarib,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  city  of  sepulture  from  the  most  ancient 
times.  This  mound  also  is  not  down  on  the  maps,  and  it 
ought  to  be  carefully  explored.  I  mention  these  two  only 
among  a  score  which  invite  especial  study. 

The  oldest  cities  of  Babylonia,  if  not  of  the  world,  according 
to  the  wonderful  geographical  table  of  Genesis  x.,  are  the  four 
which  were  the  beginning  of  the  kingdom  of  Nimrod.  They 
were  Babel  and  Erech  and  Accad  and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of 
Shinar.  These  are  the  ones  most  frequently  mentioned  to- 
gether in  the  Babylonian  inscriptions  as  the  greatest  and  most 
ancient  seats  of  the  gods.  They  were  all  visited ;  and  one  of 
them,  Accad,  also  known  as  Agade,  and  the  Sippara  of  Anunit, 
was  discovered  by  the  Wolfe  Expedition.  They  are  all  enor- 
mous mounds,  the  largest  in  the  East;  and  they  cover  the 


THE  WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.         29 

history  and  the  art  and  the  mythology  of  the  beginnings  of 
social  and  religious  development.  Of  the  four  only  Babylon 
has  been  very  much  explored ;  and  there  the  chief  digging  has 
been  at  the  northern  mound  of  Babil,  which  is  little  more  than 
a  solid  mass  of  brick.  The  promising  parts  of  the  city  are  at 
Jimjimeh  and  Kasr,  chiefly  explored  by  little  parties  of  digging 
Arabs.  Erech,  now  Warka,  has  been  partly  opened  by  Loftus 
and  Taylor ;  but  there  only  a  beginning  has  been  made.  Cal- 
neh  is  Niffer;  and  there  nothing  has  been  done.  It  is  a  most 
promising  site  of  a  most  famous  city.  The  last  of  the  four 
cities,  Accad,  is,  as  I  have  said,  the  present  Anbar,  quite  lost 
until  found  by  us  ;  and  though  the  old  tale  of  Berosus  relates 
that  Noah  came  back  and  dug  up  the  records  of  the  learning 
of  the  antediluvian  world  which  he  had  buried  here  before  the 
flood,  yet  it  cannot  but  be  full  of  treasure.  Dr.  Schliemann 
has  just  published,  in  a  noble  volume,  the  results  of  his  exten- 
sive diggings  at  the  old  city  of  Tiryns.  One  who  knows  the 
treasures  of  the  East  cannot  look  over  his  pictures  of  the 
walls  and  idols  and  pottery  fragments  there  found,  and  which 
are  so  generously  figured,  without  thinking  that  what  was 
found  there,  however  much  it  explains  or  illustrates  ques- 
tions of  architecture  and  art,  is  not  the  hundredth  or  the 
thousandth  part  of  what  could  be  expected  if  we  could  under- 
take a  similar  careful  exploration  of  Niffer  or  Anbar.  I  trust 
that  the  exploration  of  these  sites,  to  which  no  other  country 
has  as  yet  any  prior  right,  may  fall  to  America. 

Besides  excavation  we  found  that  an  immense  amount  of 
geographical  work  yet  remains  to  be  done.  Something  of 
value  has  been  done  by  officers  in  the  service  of  the  British 
government,  especially  towards  the  survey  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates  rivers.  To  Jones,  Chesney,  Collingwood,  Selby, 
and  Bewsher,  we  owe  a  great  debt  for  their  labors.  The  dis- 
trict between  the  two  rivers  reaching  from  a  little  north  of 


30  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

Baghdad  as  far  south  as  Niffer  has  been  so  carefully  mapped 
by  Selby  and  Bewsher  that  scarce  a  small  mound  is  unre- 
corded. But  this  is  all.  From  Anbar  and  the  Sakhlawieh 
Canal  north  there  are  no  maps,  and  south  from  Niffer  none. 
There  are  the  remains  of  scores,  if  not  hundreds,  of  old  cities, 
between  the  two  rivers  and  on  their  outer  banks,  whose  names 
are  in  no  explorer's  list.  Some  of  these  we  found,  as  I  have 
said,  to  be  of  great  extent  and  importance. 

Perhaps  even  more  necessary,  even,  is  the  careful  explora- 
tion of  the  courses  of  the  old  chief  canals,  which  were  so  large 
as  to  bear  the  name  of  rivers,  carrying  just  such  a  commerce 
as  did  the  rivers,  and  determining  the  sites  of  cities  as  con- 
siderable as  did  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates.  The  banks  of  old 
canals  form  the  most  conspicuous  features  of  the  scenery 
of  Babylonia.  We  followed,  for  example,  from  El-Ohemir  to 
Niffer,  the  line  of  that  old  and  immense  canal  whose  bed, 
though  now  almost  level  with  the  country  about,  and  looking 
more  like  an  old  road  whose  sides  are  strewn  with  pottery  and 
brick,  still  bears  the  name  of  river,  the  Shatt-el-Nil,  and  which 
Prof.  Friedrich  Delitzsch  believes  to  have  been  one  of  the  four 
rivers  of  Eden.  But  below  Niffer  its  course  has  not  been  fol- 
lowed, although  we  heard  of  it  frequently  in  answer  to  our 
inquiries.  I  wished  very  much  that  I  could  do  this,  but  it 
was  impossible  with  the  time  at  our  disposal.  Following  the 
bed  of  old  canals  is  possibly  the  best  way  to  identify  the  sites 
of  old  cities.  The  Babylonian  records  contain  the  mention 
of  numbers  of  these  old  chief  canals  made  or  repaired  by 
the  kings  as  works  of  piety  and  mercy.  A  map  of  these  an- 
cient canals  is  a  matter  of  great  importance.  Wherever  we 
went,  according  to  our  opportunities,  we  made  such  geograph- 
ical notes,  and  took  careful  bearings  of  the  different  mounds, 
for  the  filling  up  and  correction  of  existing  maps  ;  but  this  is 
a  small  beginning. 


THE   WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.        31 

It  is  now  proper  that  I  should  report  what  I  was  able  to  do 
in  obtaining,  or  opening  the  way  for  obtaining,  for  America 
the  monuments  of  Babylonian  literature  and  art.  It  is  the 
present  policy  of  Turkey  absolutely  to  forbid  all  excavation 
of  antiquities,  whether  by  natives  or  foreigners.  I  have  told 
how  this  difficulty  met  me  at  the  start,  and  almost  prevented 
my  obtaining  permission  to  make  any  explorations.  I  was 
under  obligation  to  do  no  digging.  That  was  strictly  forbid- 
den in  my  letters  from  the  Turkish  Minister  of  the  Interior, 
addressed  to  the  governors  of  the  Vilayats.  It  was  equally 
true  that  I  had  neither  time  nor  money  to  do  any  digging. 
There  were  many  places  where  I  much  wished  to  remain  a 
week  and  excavate,  but  that  was  impossible.  We  strictly 
obeyed  the  directions  of  the  Turkish  government  on  this  sub- 
ject. But  it  was  quite  within  my  privilege  to  find  out  what 
antiquities  are  being  found  and  offered  for  sale.  This  I  did. 
I  put  myself  in  communication  with  every  man  I  could  hear 
of  who  dealt  in  antiquities,  Christian,  Jew,  or  Moslem. 
Hillah,  as  being  close  to  Babylon,  and  Baghdad,  as  the  river 
port  of  Hillah  and  of  all  Babylonia,  are  the  greatest  centres  for 
obtaining  antiquities  in  Asia,  if  not  in  the  world.  Although 
the  trade  is  contraband,  considerable  quantities  of  tablets, 
cylinders,  and  other  larger  objects  are  constantly  being  ex- 
ported from  Baghdad  to  London.  In  the  latter  city  I  exam- 
ined several  different  consignments,  in  the  hands  of  agents 
there ;  and  I'  have  brought  home  an  excellent  collection  of 
small  engraved  and  inscribed  objects  in  gold,  chalcedony,  lapis 
lazuli,  and  clay,  burnt  and  unburnt.  Among  the  more  valu- 
able of  these  are  a  number  of  complete  historical  barrel 
cylinders,  or  parts  of  them,  belonging  to  Nebuchadnezzar, 
Nabonidus,  and  other  kings,  and  perhaps  a  hundred  complete 
contract  and  other  tablets,  a  few  of  a  period  perhaps  fifteen 
hundred  years  before  Christ,  but  mostly  of  the  period  ranging 


32  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE. 

from  Nebuchadnezzar  to  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  They  form 
an  excellent  beginning  for  a  collection,  superior  to  any  yet 
obtained  for  this  country;  and  although  it  was  necessary 
to  purchase  them  with  other  funds  than  those  provided  for 
the  expedition,  it  is  my  desire,  if  such  be  also  your  wish,  that 
they  shall  be  placed,  at  their  first  cost,  in  the  Metropolitan 
Museum. 

The  question  will  be  asked,  How  far  is  it  now  possible  to 
carry  on  explorations  and  make  excavations  and  collect  the 
ancient  monuments  in  Babylonia  ?  In  the  way  of  excava- 
tions stands  at  present  the  Turkish  government.  To  over- 
come that  difficulty  may  be  a  matter  of  time,  or  it  may  be 
only  a  matter  of  diplomacy.  I  believe  it  can  be  conquered 
in  some  way.  The  proposition  that  our  own  government 
shall  unite  with  England,  Germany,  and  France,  in  obtaining 
concessions  for  excavations,  is  well  worth  considering.  Very 
possibly  we  can  do  quite  as  well  alone.  If  the  necessary 
money  can  be  raised,  it  would  be  better  to  attempt  it  alone 
than  to  be  delayed  by  long  negotiations  with  four  govern- 
ments. Very  possibly  a  satisfactory  arrangement  might  be 
made,  by  which  nominally  the  Turkish  government  might 
conduct  the  excavations,  an  American  party  being  employed 
for  the  purpose.  Further,  the  frequent  changes  taking  place 
in  the  Turkish  government  leave  the  way  open  for  changes  of 
policy,  if  wisely  sought. 

But  an  immense  amount  of  geographical  and  other  work 
can  be  done  without  excavations.  The  importance  of  such 
work,  directed  by  good  archaeologists  and  engineers,  cannot 
be  over-estimated.  What  this  work  is,  has  been  sufficiently 
indicated  above. 

Furthermore,  a  fine  collection  of  Assyrian  and  Babylonian 
antiquities  can  be  made  without  waiting  for  a  firman  to  exca- 
vate. As  I  have  said,  a  great  number  of  most  important 


THE  WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA.         33 

objects  are  constantly  turning  up,  through  the  more  or  less 
intelligent  digging  of  natives,  who  have  some  skill  in  the 
work.  Remember  that  all  Mr.  Rassam's  collections  and  exca- 
vations were  made  by  natives.  He  is  himself  a  native  ;  and 
not  an  Englishman  had  anything  to  do  with  the  work  done 
by  him  in  Abu-Habba  and  elsewhere.  The  men  who  con- 
ducted all  that  digging  live  now  in  Baghdad  and  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  know  how  antiquities  are  to  be  found.  Every 
year  the  British  Museum  purchases  some  thousands  of  dollars 
worth  of  tablets,  etc.  As  I  have  said,  I  saw  in  London  fine 
lots  of  such  objects,  in  the  hands  of  London  agents  of  parties 
in  Mesopotamia,  the  purchase  of  which  may  require  a  year's 
chaffering ;  and  I  heard  of  other  collections  that  would  soon 
be  in  the  market.  It  is  not  too  late  for  America  to  compete 
with  Europe  for  these  collections,  which  do  so  much  to  encour- 
age and  develop  the  scholarship  of  a  country.  Where  there 
is  material  that  demands  original  work,  original  work  will  be 
done.  I  hardly  need  do  more  than  suggest  how  advantageous 
it  would  be  for  American  scholarship  if  we  might  have  in 
Baghdad  a  permanent  resident  who  would  make  it  his  busi- 
ness to  attend  to  our  interests  in  archaeological  matters.  An 
American  consul  there,  intelligently  selected,  might  do  very 
much.  For  this  reason  De  Sarzec,  after  his  explorations  at 
Tello,  was  promoted  from  Bussora  to  Baghdad,  where  he  is  now 
the  French  consul-general.  I  am  fully  convinced  that  there 
is  a  great  future  opening  to  us  in  this  most  hopeful  and  fruit- 
ful branch  of  archaeological  study,  if  we  will  only  follow  up 
the  lead  given  us  by  the  generosity  and  public  spirit  of 
Miss  Wolfe. 

WILLIAM    HAYES   WARD. 


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